OMAHA, Neb. - The Providence College men's basketball team was defeated, 88-73, in its final regular season game at No. 13 Creighton on Saturday night. With the loss, the Friars fell to 20-11 overall and 10-8 in league play.

The Friars will open the BIG EAST Tournament on Thursday, March 13 as the No. 4 seed versus No. 5 seed St. John's at 2:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.

In the first half, the game was very low scoring for the first five minutes as Creighton led 8-7. However, the Bluejays came to life and ripped off 37 points over the final 15 minutes of the half. Senior All-American Doug McDermott paced the way for Creighton as he scored 22 points in the half. Senior Kadeem Batts (Boston, Mass.) led the Friars with eight points. Junior LaDontae Henton (Lansing, Mich.) added seven points and five rebounds for the Friars. Friar senior guard Bryce Cotton (Tucson, Ariz.) was held scoreless in the first half on three shots.

In the second half, Creighton (24-6, 14-4) continued to score at a high rate. The Friars got the lead under 20 several times, but were never able to make a sustained run. McDermott had a game high 45 points and went over 3,000 points in his career. Cotton had a strong second half for the Friars, scoring all 23 of his points in the final 20 minutes of play.